RED-FLOWERED TREES 
BRACHYCHITON ACERIFOLIUS.  (Sterculiaceae). FLAME 
BottrLeTREE. This is so called because in flowering time the leaves 
fall off and the tree is invested in an abundance of small cup-shaped 
scarlet blossoms with red stems so that it assumes a fancied resem- 
blance to a fiery torch. This is the special distinction of the tree, 
which ordinarily is small but may reach a total height of 80 feet and 
a girth at the base of 7 feet. The branching is close and heavy, the 
crown a broad cone of dark shining green, the leaves maple-like, often 
9 inches across. It is a tree of eastern Australia where it grows in 
hollows in deep, black soil, needs moisture, and seeks shelter in jungle 
areas. In California it blooms in June, and in the southern coastal 
region is considered “one of the showiest flowering trees that can be 
planted, a solid mass of dazzling color, ever more vivid than the scarlet 
flowering Eucalyptus (E. ficifolia),” according to Armstrong. (This 
tree is known also as Sterculia acerifolia). 
CALLIANDRA HEMATOCEPHALA. (Mimosaceae). REDHEAD 
CaLLiaANpra. (Syn Anneslia hematocephala). This is a shrub or small 
tree with fine cut evergreen foliage and a continuous succession through 
much of the year of very conspicuous flowers about the size of half 
an orange which consist mostly of a mass of bright crimson stamens. 
It is probably the best of the Calliandras for Florida and was introduced 
into this area by Dr. George Tyrrell of LaBelle. The flowers are very 
similar to those of C. guildingi of Trinidad, but are more prolific. The 
flowers are similar also to those of Metrosideros sp. which are so 
seldom seen in Florida, and to Enterolobium sp., although the latter 
are less colorful. 
ERYTHRINA SP. (Papilionaceae). CorALBEAN. These red- 
flowered shade trees are among the most striking adornments for our 
Florida gardens and should be much more widely planted than they 
are. Although most of them lose some of their leaves in winter and 
have thorns, they are beautiful trees and their amazing red flowers 
compel attention from a long distance. I offer these outstanding 
varieties: E. reticulata. A small Brazilian tree, often only a shrub, with 
showy scarlet flowers in erect sprays at the ends of the branches, 
blooming from August to October in lowland areas of Rio de Janeiro. 
E. falcata. A medium-sized Brazilian tree with red-orange flowers 
from June to August in Rio, illustrated and described in “Album 
Floristico” as “a rapid growing tree of remarkable beauty, highly deco- 
rative, suitable for parks.” E. berteroana. A thornless Costa Rican 
tree to 60 feet, flowering two or three times annually, hardier than 
most varieties, and the colder the climate in its native land, the more 
intense the spectrum-red color of the dense sprays of pea-shaped 
flowers. E. poeppigiana. A very large shade tree from Peru to 80 
